Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Can you lend me a hand?

I'm looking for (a) web and/or graphic designer(s) with an outsized love for music (particularly Canadian independent stuff) and a desire to give back to that community (i.e. ply his/her/their trade for below market rate). A non-profit organization of my acquaintance is looking to set up its corporate identity (logos, websites etc.) and, like all NGOs, there isn't much in the way of a budget.
Compensation would be a mix of money (not much) and contra-adverts as well as - potentially - some time spent with some cool musicians, not to mention that warm, fuzzy feeling you get when you feel you've done the right thing.
Drop me a line in the comment box (or via e-mail: fatcitizen nospam (at) gmail (dot) com) .
Speaking of web-type stuff, I'm reaching the end of my proverbial rope with bandwidth issues (despite the heroic efforts of my man Cammy, we're about to come up face to face with another incident of "30 days of bandwidth lasting only 25 days"). I'm wondering:
A) If any of the 200-300 of you who visit me every day have an idea of where I might get solid web service (lots of storage, LOTS of bandwidth...) for relatively little cash; or,
B) What you'd think of me reducing the podcasting archives to, say, the last five shows. I could offer archived shows on special arrangement, but I'd reduce the ongoing server demand of new subscribers digging through the vault. That said, I'd love for you to be able to access the vault too.
Anyway...feedback sincerely appreciated!
Pregnant Pause
The nominations are in for the 2006 Bloggies. I'm definately voting for Frank, Sean/Jordan/Dan, and Rannie.
So much else to say, but so little time...I'll try and catch up with y'all soon...

Sunday, January 22, 2006

"...et le vote ethnique"

Not sure why more people haven't noticed this little gem from Nicolas Van Praet's article in today's Gazette: (subscription only)
"Nine of the 75 candidates the Bloc is running in this election were born outside Canada (including) Maka Kotto, a Camerooninan...When he was introducing some of those candidates and finally spotted Kotto...Duceppe joked that he couldn't see him in the dark. Everyone laughed."
Not that there's enough time before les elections tomorrow, but maybe somone ought not to let Msr. Duceppe off the hook for this...

Saturday, January 21, 2006

That Shit is DOPE

Three things you need to know about this week's episode of The Podcast Without I...(to which you can subscribe by simply cutting and pasting http://www.pwi.racknine.net/podcast.xml into your copy of iTunes or iPodder. Or, if you'd like, you can subscribe to it through the good folks at Odeo).
1) There are more songs about drugs then there are about the election on Monday.
2) That's a good thing
3) I'm on the lookout for any subscriber to the cast who might be having trouble with their xml files. I thought I'd ironed out all the kinks a while back but some people may be downloading shows (which should be about an hour each) coming in as less than 30 minutes worth of file.
Pregnant Pause
This page seems to have the text of a Citizen article on the closure of Record Runner. (Just don't get me started on my feelings toward the sport of Ultimate - or, as I like to call it, Fetch).

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Condos kill another music landmark...

No, not that one.On January 21st, Ottawa's Record Runner will close its doors after more than 30 years of slingin' some of the Capital's best vinyl, acetate and silicon-wrapped, laser-etched aluminum. The entire block of Rideau street where the store currently resides (a block which also includes The Capital Music Hall, Ottawa's largest non-stadium live venue) will soon be cleared to make way for a two-tower condo development.
It's kinda sad and I'll tell you why.
Turning people on to new music is one of my passions. There's nothing like the feeling you can get when you help a friend discover art that improves their life. Whenever someone in Ottawa confided in me with a "I really know nothing about music, where should I start?" My response was always the same:
"Hit the back wall at Record Runner."
That back wall was a compendium of solid advice delivered $11.99 at a time, the Rock and Roll equivalent of a tiny mom and pop hardware store. On it, hung a collection of pretty much everything you needed to build a sturdy record collection: old-school hammers (Zeppelin, Maiden, Sabbath); modern-rock nails (The Pixies, The Clash, The Replacements); song writing hardwood (Neil Young and Leonard Cohen); rock-hard foundation materials (Howlin' Wolf); bright swirls of the greatest instrumental paint (Miles Davis and Charles Mingus) and some of those doahickies that you never quite know how to use but wouldn't want to live without (like Tom Waits and Laurie Anderson).
My girlfriend's first Tom Waits album was purchased off that wall. I gave it to her as a test. She passed.
One of my best friends has a copy of London Calling from the back wall. I bought it for him to fill a glaring gap in his otherwise encyclopaedic record collection. Not only did he forgive me for being a patronizing prick (I think my exact words at the time may have been "Well, without London Calling it's not really a record collection then, is it?") he thanked me for adding Rudie Can't Fail, Lost in the Supermarket and Death or Glory to his life.
Though Record Runner's owner says he'll try to lease a new location in the next while, I fear this closure is yet another sign of greater trends in technology and commerce. In fact, I'm pretty confident that in another decade or two what we know as a record store will probably pretty much cease to exist. Every week, we as listeners are more and more comfortable with music being an ephemeral thing; liner notes have been replaced by website bios, stores are closing to focus on websites and some of the record shops that have remained open are placing garbage cans outside their doors for iPodders to toss away their extraneous jewel cases and cover art on the way home to their computers.
None of this is the end of the world; I'm ready for the change. But I sure am gonna miss that back wall.